chap. iv. SLEDGING. 25 



and in our inexperience we began to fear that summer would 

 be upon us before we reached the Petchora. Our progress 

 was slow, and at this time, including stoppages, we did not 

 average much more than seven miles an hour. On Wednes- 

 day night we had a smart frost, and began to congratulate 

 each other on the chance of our progress being more rapid. 

 But we soon found that we were out of the frying-pan into 

 the tire. The great traffic to and from the fair at Pinega 

 had worn a deep rut for the horses' feet in the track, and 

 one runner of our sledge would persist in running in it, 

 which threw the sledge so much out of the level that the 

 outrigger or projecting spar, which is necessary to prevent 

 the sledge from being upset every five minutes, was con- 

 tinually ploughing into the snow which formed a bank on 

 each side of the road. As long as the snow was soft it 

 was of little consequence, but when the crust was hardened 

 by an hour or two of frost, the outrigger of the sledge went 

 " scrunch " into it with a sound almost like that of a man turn- 

 ing wood in a lathe, and our progress was as much impeded 

 by this unwelcome brake as it had been by the giving way 

 of the snow under the horses' feet. On Thursday afternoon 

 the sun was again hot, but fortunately it froze again at night. 

 Friday was dull all day, with a slight thaw, and we reached 

 Mezen at 4 p.m. and found the roofs dripping. 



The scenery on the route was much more varied than we 

 had expected to find it. Most of the way we sledged through 

 the forests, a wide space being cleared on each side of the 

 track ; but sometimes the trees came close up to the road, 

 which was hilly and winding, and we seemed to be lost in 



